Schools are inspected every year by Dubai School Inspection Bureau for performance review. The bureau rates schools on various parameters and speedy response is expected from school management in improvement areas. What is more embarrassing is that one of these three Pakistani schools has further deteriorated its rating from "Acceptable" last year to "Unsatisfactory" this year. The other two schools already had Unsatisfactory rating last year and did nothing to improve it and maintained their low standards.
What is even more embarrassing for Pakistanis is the fact that two Indian schools got "Outstanding" rating, moving up from "Good" last year. Seven other Indian schools got rating of "Good", and only two out of twenty one Indian schools had Unsatisfactory score.
Now comes an even more embarrassing news. The inspection bureau witnessed children being subjected to corporal punishment at one of the Pakistani schools. Dubai School Inspection Bureau comments about Pakistani schools adn I quote, "Inappropriate measures are taken to discipline students. Due to this, relationship between students and teachers are often negative. This results in poor behavior and a lack of respect. We came across cases of spanking at a Pakistani school. Teachers is some of these schools need to be trained on behavioral management."
How many of us back in Pakistan can relate to the above? I am sure many, if not all. The other day a friend of mine who took up part time teaching at Roots School in Rawalpindi told me she developed severe headache from the constant yelling of one of her female colleagues who was trying to discipline children of Grade 3?!?! Soon after that same teacher started insisting that weather (mausam) is spelled "wheather". My friend didn't go to work the next day and subsequently quit the job.
If there is any School Inspection Bureau (for both public and private schools) in Pakistan, it is definitely not doing its job. And that is not any different from other government departments. Standards of education have deteriorated and the quality of teachers has been compromised because of (a) lack of training and inspection (b) low salaries.
This brings me to my request to IK of PTI. Some people have this understanding (or misunderstanding) that IK's education system reforms will take Pakistan back into the stone age by making every school Urdu medium. The perception is originating from IK's strong views against the Brown Sahib culture that the elite education institutes of Pakistan have been propagating. To my mind, that perception of ours is not correct, and IK needs to further elaborate on what his plans are. I hope and pray that the education policy makers do understand that the ability to communicate in English language has been a competitive edge for Pakistanis and Indians globally. For the same reason Germans have a competitive edge over other non-English speaking European nations, and now South Koreans and Chinese are stressing the importance of learning English language. Urdu is and will remain our national language and it must be taught as a compulsory subject/language. But it must not be the medium of instruction for all times to come. We have to uplift the government schools and gradually move all educational institutes to English language as the medium of instruction. If in doubt, ask small town high school students how lost they found themselves on the first day in the big city college when their Chemistry professor started his lecture in English, a subject these poor students have been studying in Urdu till Grade 10.
I also suggest IK to immediately hold an Education Conference and lay down his education reform agenda on the lines of his recent Energy Conference.
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